Apparatus for applying thermal energy to a receptacle and detecting an emission signal from the receptacle

Abstract

An apparatus including a thermally-conductive receptacle holder having a row of receptacle wells. Each receptacle well has an inner surface defined to receive a receptacle, and each receptacle well has a through-hole extending between the inner and outer surfaces thereof. The apparatus further includes one or more thermal elements for altering a temperature(s) of the receptacle holder, where the one or more thermal element are in contact with a side surface of the receptacle holder. There are two or more thermistors disposed in contact with the receptacle holder and a channel disposed within the side surface and containing wires and/or electrical connections for the two or more thermistors. The apparatus additionally includes a plurality of optical fibers, each optical fiber providing optical communication between one of the receptacle wells and at least one of an excitation signal source and an emission signal detector, where a first end of each optical fiber is disposed outside, within, or extends through the through-hole of a corresponding one of the receptacle wells, and where a second end of each optical fiber is in optical communication with the excitation signal source and/or the emission signal detector.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.